Well, we are now more than halfway through the school year, with 19 weeks behind us and 17 more ahead. However, it feels like we have been in school so much longer than that, yet it has gone by quick. This school year we have had to work even harder to connect and know each other than any other school year. This hard work has paid off. The Middle School students (and us, their teachers) not only really know each other, but we are unified.

As we watched the inauguration with your sons and daughters this week, it brought unity. We shared a moment in our country’s history together at the same time. We are grateful to have shared it with your children. We are grateful we share “bubbles” with such supportive families. We are grateful for a school that believes unity is important.

“But one thing is certain:
If we merge mercy with might,
and might with right,
then love becomes our legacy
and change our children’s birthright”
-Amanda Gorman

What’s happening in Science:
This week in science we contemplated, researched, and discussed how confident we are in the coronavirus vaccine. Middle School scientists will be learning about the human body, our immune system, and pathogens that we now think about everyday. These first essays were mature, academic, yet opinionated.

In Reading:
Readers dove into social issues this week. We read short stories with our book clubs and identified social issues to discuss as a class. Next week, we will get deep into novels about immigration to identity social issues through a smaller lens.


What’s up in Math?
Fifth graders applied their knowledge of mixed numbers to real-world scenarios this week. As we continued to dive deeper into fractions, we gained confidence and expanded upon former fraction foundations! Students will be wrapping up module 3 next week, and be reviewing and completing their end-of-module 3 assessment this upcoming Wednesday.
Sixth graders are demonstrating their understanding of numbers and their opposites as well as ordering integers and rational numbers. Sixth graders took time to review numbers and their opposites, as well as rational numbers in preparation for Monday’s mid-module assessment!

In Writing:
Writers presented their fiction writing unit and closed the unit with a final fiction on-demand. We took a day to write about our “One Word” resolutions during centers, and we began our literary essay unit with an all time favorite, The Three Little Pigs, but this time from the perspective of the third and oh so wise pig, who built his house out of bricks.

Important Dates:
February 15-16- Winter Break: No School
February 24- Class Social
March 1-2 Conferences
March 29- April 6 Spring Break